After the Fall Comes the Pain
by huskylover2018
Summary: Set after season 8, our heroes struggle to become whole again. One character makes a shocking return.
1. Prologue

Light.

Lots of light.

Allura remembered walking away from her friends to save the entire multiverse. Honerva had been with her, but where was she? Everything felt like it was washing over her as she realized, she had sacrificed herself to the multiverse, that she was now part of it. Guilt flooded her as she remembered Coran, and how she had just left him without saying goodbye.

Tears.

So many tears.

Allura cried until she could cry no more. She gazed with wet eyes on where she was. Galaxies swirled around her and stars orbited her. Entire realities floated around her. Still, the familiar tug of her lion crept into her, and she smiled. Blue was with her. Her dress was like a galaxy in itself. She started to wander around, comforted by the presence of her lion.

Lance was dismayed, the love of his life, gone like that. The lions were gone too, although he could still feel the tug of Red and Blue. It was hard, everyone tried to comfort him, but nothing could take away the shame he felt for not being able to save Allura. After a while the pain ebbed away, leaving Lance feeling numb and cold. He reminded himself of how Allura would want him to be, and moved on. But the pain never went away.

Hunk was finally happy. He and Shay were a couple, and a cue one at that. He expanded in his culinary career, filled with a passion for his career and for who he shared it with. He missed being a paladin, but remembered how stressful it was having the fate of the universe rest on his shoulders. Those memories also reminded him of how much different Lance was after Allura sacrificed herself to save them. He didn't want to forget Allura, but he wanted to get rid of the pain he felt when be thought of her. She was like family, and losing family was the last thing anyone wanted to do

**A/N Thank you for reading! I hope to update at least bi-weekly but am so sorry if I can't. I hope to make this fic about 10 Chapters if not more. Normal chapters will be longer. **


	2. Chapter 1

Allura missed her family. She missed having the paladins around and she worried for Coran. Even though she could not physically feel them, she still could occasionally hear Lance's laugh, the sound of Pidge rambling on about how she could improve her tech. She knew she was somewhere, but knew not where that somewhere was.

Allura started to walk around wherever she was. She started to call for her father, but he was not there.

She called for the paladins. No response.

In the middle of calling Coran's name she stopped, he wasn't there. No one was.

For the first time in her life she was truly alone. She hadn't been alone on the castle, she had Coran and the paladins. Now she had no one.

He was supposed to protect her. He failed to keep his promise to her father. Coran felt guilty for getting Allura into this mess. He didn't even get to say goodbye. After he started work on the new Castle of Lions, he lost a sense of purpose and eventually set out to chart different species in the universe. He currently was on a small moon called Q'orc'a. It was quaint, and he found himself in the lush blue forest looking for a specific type of plant which was known to have healing abilities. He found it, and when he was about to input the location into his holomap, he heard something. Almost like someone whispering his name. He would have to think about it later.

Once Coran got back to his settlement, he ran the sample through the processing machine. He found that the plant was safe to consume, but would need to be examined more to check that the healing properties it was to contain was accurate. He sat down at his desk and wrote his daily letter to Allura. He had picked up this tradition after finding that it was easier to cope with her being gone when he did. He told her of how he was chased around by a fluffy beast and of how he found his perfect sample.

As he closed the letter, he heard the same voice he had earlier, but it was clearer. It sounded almost like that of Allura's when she was young. But alas he must be imagining things, for Allura was gone. No one could change that.

Lance had just finished with his weekly therapy session. He had gone before he got shot into space, but now it was different. Now people said he needed to go after what he went through.

Therapy helped a bit, but when the other members of the team stopped by it always cheered him up. Even Keith with his stupid mullet really helped him through the hard times. Hunk would stop by the most often, seeing as Earth had the main headquarters of his culinary empire. He and Shay made the first couple too. Now, it was Pidge that showed up. She could normally distract him with video games or rambling about her latest proje

ct. She would normally walk around the farm with him to see Kaltenecker. How that cow was still alive evaded Lance. Some moments he would hear Allura's voice, and almost answer. But he had to move on. He still loved Allura, he always would, but maybe it was time that he realized she was never coming back.

Allura could feel them, they were so close. Just reach a little more. She could do it, she could get back.

**A/N Another update yay! How was it? There will be lots of Langst in this. You have been warned. Please follow, tag, review, or whatever you like to do! Bye now! **


	3. Chapter 2

Lance had been invited to go on a goodwill tour with Keith and Krolia. Nothing much really, just helping to clean up planets and build up the civilizations that the Galra empire had torn down.

Allura would be so proud of how far the team had come. He wiped at his damp eyes, then answered the message Keith had sent him.

Once Krolia and Keith arrived, Lance hastily said his goodbyes to his family, then boarded the space craft. Keith started to hold out his hand like he was going for a handshake, but Lance dove in for a hug. They were one big, happy, space family after all.

"Mullet! Keith, buddy, how are you?" Lance energetically proclaimed.

"I'm doing pretty well. How are you holding up?" Keith replied.

"Y'know it could be worse, we could be fighting in a huge war in flying space cats," Lance joked, "But all things considered, I need a distraction."

"Well we have plenty of work to do," Krolia interjected,"Keith, set route for The Nayopar System."

Lance settled down in one of the chairs towards the back of the ship and started fidgeting with his jacket's zipper.

"This will be great" he reassured himself. Nothing like a good road trip to get your mind off things.

"Shay, I need a Napalm fruit, stat!"

"Here you go Hunk," Shay said with a smile as she handed the fruit to her husband.

It was officially their 1st wedding anniversary. Hunk was finishing up makinge his special dinner with Shay, an then they would relax for the night. If you had told him 5 years ago that he would marry an alien, pilot a space lion, and have his own culinary empire, he would not believe a word you say. But now, he was living his dream.

After dinner he received a message from Keith.

Keith-Former Team Voltron meeting. 1 week from this date in the Nayopar System. See you there?

Hunk-I'll check with Shay. Don't think we had any plans. What about Lance?

Keith-He's in the back of my spacecraft. He doesn't know.

Hunk-Oh man this is gonna be good! Wanna have me drag Pidge away from her research or what?

[Pidge has entered the chat]

Pidge-What's this I hear, a surprise party?

Keith- How did you even get on here? This is a closed message!

Pidge-I have my ways. What time is the meeting?

Keith-I'll send the exact coordinates now. Meet at 18:00 GST. Lance getting suspicious. Talk later.

Lance looked up and saw Keith typing away on his communicator. Krolia had taken over piloting for now. The trip was going to take a couple days, due to the fact that the system they were going to was such a far distance away.

He missed the days where Allura could just make a wormhole and get to the other side of the universe in an instant.

He missed when he would steal Pidge's headphones and listen to music those first few months at the castle. The mornings after were terrifying though, and he remembered how Pidge would chase after him as fast as her little legs could take her.

He remembered how Coran would make him clean off the cryopods with him. That time when he got locked in one was terrifying though.

Lance recalled how hard Hunk tried to make comfort food when he was feeling down.

He chuckled at the memory of when Shiro finally accepted the nickname Space Dad.

The memory of himself and Keith having to recreate that one scene from The Emperor's New Groove was a great one too. (don't own It.)

He was reminded of how much he missed Allura. He knew he was never going to see her again, so why couldn't he move on?

Allura finally understood. She was with the universe, at the center of being. She could see into all the other realities, but she was heartbroken to look at her own. It hurt her heart to see Lance like he was. Unable to move forward like Allura had.


End file.
